Join Me for Novelmber: write some things together!

Set goals, share them, keep them and help me do the same.

Hey #AmWriting—It’s me—KJ—with an invitation for everyone that goes all month long.

Join me for Novelmber, which is very hard to pronounce but is my word for reclaiming my writing space in November. Think NaNoWriMo, our version—daily challenges and stretch goals, formatted by you, for you.

There will be write-alongs, posts, a massive Google spreadsheet for sharing goals and updating progress, thoughts on how hard this is, and more than you want to know about why I need this regroup so badly. All writers, every genre, welcome.

This is sign-up only—I don’t plan to spam the whole #AmWriting community with my wails of writerly distress daily for an entire month—but it’s also for everyone who wants in. I hope you’ll join me—I don’t want to go this alone! Details on how to sign up at the end of this post (no worries it’s super-easy), but first…

I’m NOT in a good writing place. Surprise! Yes, I’m on top of the world because of the TV series. It’s been wonderful and good things abound… but also, you know that romcom draft I’ve been talking about all year? I no likey. My agent no likey. It needs work, friends, and I’ve had a wonderful freelance editor take a look and she’s given me lal the ideas and… I just can’t do it right now. I’m not feeling it. I LOVE romcoms and romance. I thought I wanted to write one and maybe I was right, but just at this exact moment I do not want to revise the one I wrote. Again. I need to put it away for a bit, which means that it’s time to start playing with something else. Which is both exciting and daunting.

Some people write more than one thing at once. Maybe I’m that person! Some people write from a place of not caring about whether and how and when it will sell. Maybe I… could be that person? Maybe I need a little dose of just me in my head figuring out what I want to write and how.

So… Novelmber! Why not NaNoWriMo? Because that’s not the right thing for me right now. I don’t need to/should NOT write 55K words fast on what would probably end up being the wrong thing. I need to write… some words. In the direction of figuring out what the right thing might be. So my loose plan is for noodling with a laptop or a notebook or something, for some pre-set amount of time EVERY SINGLE DAY in November. (Truly on Thanksgiving that preset amount of time might be 10 minutes. Or it might be 8 hours and sorry kids good luck whoever thought trying to cook dinner for 24 in my brother-in-law’s tiny kitchen was a good idea yes I’m looking at you, A!)

I’m thinking I’ll sketch out 3 possible books and write 10K words within each, so that’s what I’ve put as my goal in the Great Google Novelmber Spreadsheet. You should set whatever goal feels like practical progress to you. Make it a stretch (because what fun is a softball, really) and make yourself accountable, and maybe, if you see this in time, I’ll see you tomorrow in the very first write-along. (Friday, November 1 10:30-12:30 (EST)).

Meanwhile, sign up below. This is open to all, any genre (although it’s lovely if you support the podcast with your $$, please do, upgrade to paid HERE). I also launched a chat HERE, let’s see how that goes. You can join in any time.

Don’t worry, signing up is simple! Here’s how:

Click here to go to your #AmWriting account, and when you see this screen, toggle “Novelmber” from “off” (grey) to “on” (orange). (Amusingly, you can also UPGRADE TO PAID in this very same spot! Fancy that!)

THAT’S IT!

Once you set that up, you’ll get all future Novelmber emails. Any audio or video will show up in those, along with write-along schedules.

You’ll also want to add yourself to the Google Sheet where we’ll all record our overall goal, day’s goals, daily progress and what we’re feeling. I’ve started it off.

Join me for the first write-alongs HERE. (That’s a link to my Zoom Room.) I’ll be sitting there:

Friday, November 1 10:30-12:30 (ALL TIMES EST)

Tuesday, November 5, 2:00-4:00

Friday, November 8, 9:00-11:00

More times coming. Join me, help me, let’s make Novelmber WORK!